What a legendary week we had in the Athletic Department.
With the completion of the World’s Greatest Relay, it’s now time to give you a glimpse of it and break down the events of the relay.
We started on Monday the 28 November with spin. Here over 36 Athletes put their bodies through a tough and dogged 45-minute spin relay, sprinting for 500mts then disembarking for a team member to hop on the spin bike with this process being repeated again and again and again. All athletes did incredibly well and set a high standard for the week ahead.
Day 2 saw the participants head into the pool to complete 50mt sprints before setting their teammates off on the same journey. Despite a few close calls and the lifeguard tube nearly being used, all who entered the water exited safely looking forward to day 3.
On day 3 all athletes ventured over to Hyde Park for a 300mt running relay. The group started off at 110 mph and didn’t slow down until the final whistle. This was one of the toughest days of the competition with a few athletes succumbing to older injuries.
It’s safe to say that we were all sleeping well after day 3.
Day 4 saw a reshuffle of teams and teammates as we ventured into the squash court to take on the rowing machines. A 300mt sprint awaited all the athletes who took it all in their stride, turning the squash court into a greenhouse with the temperature feeling well over 50 degrees (this fact might be made up but it definitely felt that way).
Day 5 the day of conclusion- with a program and events change at the last minute by the AD team, all participants took on 3×10 minute blocks on the Rowing Machine, Treadmills and Spin bikes. Following the same principles of the previous four days, each team took turns working themselves to the point of exhaustion and pushed themselves beyond their limits.
Participating in this relay to challenge their level of fitness while supporting our charity partner Bear Cottage in their incredible initiative, all our member participants did exceptionally well.
Moving on to the final results of the relay, here are the top three teams that performed incredibly well over these five days:
In third place was the youngest team in the field of Tom Flannery, Tom Buchanan and Matty Corkhill.
In second place was the team (and this has been measured multiple times) of Peter Hedge, Hans Peiters and Janek Savage, who performed incredibly well and pushed our overall winning team to the edge.
Ultimately, there can only be one winning team which is Kieran Horth, Martin K and Malcolm, who despite copping a heavy fine for a substitute athlete still managed to take first place and took over our first-ever World’s Greatest relay event.
Followed by the WGR was the celebratory lunch for everyone to refuel their bodies with some delicious and nutritious Christmas feast put together by Chef Fernando. The week was a huge success and helped create friendships and communities that only sweat and exhaustion can.
We are already on the countdown for next year’s relay and we can’t wait to release the new format soon!